FO: Lodi Cardi

It's finally here!  My Lodi Cardigan is finally done!  Actually, it was done on Sunday but I wanted to save it for Friday to share with the Tami's Amis group because you were there for all the WIP posts (see what I did there. Excellent insertion of blog linkage!)

Lodi Cardigan from Knitscene Summer 2011 in Cascade Sierra

I finally got the yarn to photograph in the bright red it truly is.  Isn't it a lovely color?  Just made me feel like a superhero or something.

In all seriousness though I am enjoying this.  It may be obscenely hot outside but this is quickly becoming my go-to cardigan for overly air-conditioned buildings.  I highly recommend the pattern which is very well written.  This was my first sweater with a button band and the instructions actually made a lot of sense.  I chose these awesome sparkly buttons that seemed just wild enough to fit the bold personality of the yarn.  They're sewn on with navy thread that matches the grosgrain ribbon that I used per the Knitmore Girls' Couture Button Tutorial (took me two nights but the results are totally worth it).

While I honestly am enjoying this cardigan it did provide some learning moments.  When it was all finished and the buttons were sewn on I ran into my bathroom to try it on.  It looked great until I buttoned it and found that while it buttoned the fabric gaped.  It seems I had a momentary loss of brain function and made the same size as my bust measurements.  In a cotton yarn.  I blame the fact that I generally knit with a bit of negative ease and that I'm still new to this whole sweater knitting thing.  I seemed to forget that cotton yarn does not stretch the way wool and wool blends do.

But it looks great unbuttoned, and it was from my early knitting stash so overall I'm happy.